"Good Morning, Sir!"
A maid wearing a black and white dress bowed in front of a young man. She was almost a half a head taller than the young man.
The young man was around five feet nine inches tall. He was yawning, and his eyes weren't focused on the woman but in the air.
A floating screen appeared in the air, but only he could see it.
[Ding! Daily Check-in has been activated.]
[You received 50 Gold Coins.]
Seeing this, he clicked his tongue and thought.
'Just some Gold Coins? Then again, what can I expect from a Daily Check-in?'
Then, another notification rang in front of him.
[Ding! Monthly Check-in has been activated.]
[You received a Natural Fruit]
'Finally, a good reward! Since I am already a Third Rank, it will not be that helpful to me.'
'I should give it to Rose.'
"Rose, what will be my schedule for today?"
The young man put away his sour mood and asked.
"Sir, you have three important tasks. First, you need to go through a routine checkup of the Golden Light Formation."
"Your second task is to meet the Third Lady of the Carter Family. Your final task of the day is City Annual Budget Distribution."
Hearing that, the young man raised his eyebrows and said.
"Has it already been a year?"
Rose nodded her head and said.
"Yes, Sir! And today, we will be celebrating the Founding Day of Shadow Totem City."
"Hmm!"
The young man went up to the closet and took out a pair of pants, a white shirt, and a long black coat.
He changed to this new outfit and wore white gloves before saying.
"Then, let's start my day!"
He had a big smile on his face as he left the room.
His name was Tyler Grant. He was the heir of the Grant Family, but a year ago, his family was destroyed by the Outbreak.
Outbreak was the general term used to describe the attack of spirits and monsters. It was probably the darkest day of their family.
Not only them, but thousands of people lost their lives.
Because the spirit tried to possess him, he almost died that day.
But somehow, a young man from the twenty-first century ended up in his body with a Check-in System and merged with the previous soul.
The young man accepted his new identity without a second thought and decided to live a new life.
Being born as the heir of a big family, despite all that destruction, he had a lot of wealth.
But after he received some information about this world, he decided to do something no one ever thought of doing.
He used all of his wealth to create a city by building houses, providing medical support, and hiring hunters for protection.
He expressed his desire to build the city, and five hundred people who survived that day chose him as their leader without a second thought.
Previously, they weren't living in a city. It was a small village near the borders of the Azure Country.
But they weren't under the rule of Azure Country. So, he could easily control this piece of land and name himself the City Lord.
Naturally, his wealth attracted a lot of greedy people.
Unfortunately for them, he received the Natural Fruit on a monthly basis. With this fruit, he managed to awaken Totem Creation and Shadow Manipulation.
He also became the first and only Third Rank Hunter of the City.
He used the name of his abilities to name the City.
Shadow Totem City!
With his Totem Creation, he was able to store the supernatural and powerful creatures of his creation inside the Totem.
This allowed him to borrow the abilities and natural energy of those creatures.
It was all thanks to those Natural Fruits. After all, it was one of three ways to gain strength.
Thinking about it, he raised his hand and stared at his watch.
7:19
'Four hours and forty-one minutes left!'
He thought to himself and followed Rose to his office.
"Sir, I will bring your breakfast!"
After he sat on his chair, Rose bowed her head and left the room.
It was a big room and it was fairly spacious. There was only one table and several chairs.
Some extra chairs were kept on the side.
He took out a large file from the drawer and started working on it.
'Since I am here, I should finish the third task. Hmm! Thanks to my knowledge of playing City SIMs games, I was able to create a city.'
'But, there are a lot of things that I haven't worked on yet. Currently, we are earning only from the Property and Income Tax.'
'And, Mortgage also helped me this year. But except for seven families, every other family has managed to pay the mortgage within a year.'
'Out of five hundred people, only one hundred and eighty are middle-aged and women. The remaining population belongs to children and old people.'
'Currently, the City only has a fixed number of jobs, such as Construction workers, Factory workers, and Hunters.'
'We only have factories for processing goods like cheese, eggs, meat, wheat, rice, bricks, glass, and utensils.'
'Among these, those diary products are built in a single factory. Wheat and rice are just processed in another factory.'
'We need to expand on Glass and Utensils Factories so that we can start selling those items to other countries.'
'Thankfully, this world's technology isn't that ahead of its time. The constant Outbreaks have led to a decline in technology.'
'But this is also a problem. Even if I focus on technology, I need to produce more qualified Hunters.'
'Only hunters have the courage to fight monsters. Without them, our food supply, wood supply, rice fields, and even transportation will be halted.'
'So, this year, I must focus tax money on two major things.'
'First will be new factories and second will be the production and the distribution of Natural Fruits and Monster Meat.'
Among the three ways to gain strength, Natural Fruits and Monster Meat were two of three.
Natural Fruits were the accumulation of a Spirit Tree absorbing a large amount of Natural Energy from the surroundings.
Their fruits often bear a unique trace of Divine Will that grants humanity different abilities based on their desires.
Monster Meats were a bit different. They were used to improve the existing strength of a hunter.
Most of the energy was focused on developing physical energy, while only a portion of it was used to develop those abilities.
But these two things could only be found in the wilds. And, what else could be found in the wild?
Spirits and Monsters!
So, most people wouldn't risk their lives to find the Natural Fruits, much less a Monster.
Tyler was able to grow to Third Rank Hunter thanks to his Check-in System.
There were three kinds of check-ins.
Daily Check-in, Monthly Check-in, and Yearly Check-in.
He generally wouldn't get much from the Daily Check-in. It could be anywhere from a gold coin to a chicken feather.
Monthly check-ins were important. The first monthly Check-in was his best check-in.
It was his most powerful Natural Fruit. It helped him awaken the Totem Creation, and with such rich natural energy remained.
He was able to summon a Dragon Pet.
This was also the reason why he was able to survive in this world despite showing off his wealth.
Upcoming getting the Dragon Pet, he stored the Dragon Pet inside his Totem and established a connection.
After that, he was able to utilize the best of the Totem Creation.
After all, Dragons were considered mythical creatures. They were rarely found in the world, and each of them possessed incredible power.
Even though his Dragon Pet was just a baby, it had the power of elements, including fire, lightning, and water.
And each passing day, it would only grow. Thanks to his Totem Creation, he was able to store his Dragon within the Totem.
That way, his trump card could be hidden until his life was in serious danger.
Except for that, his daily check-in rarely gave him any good rewards. A few times, he received some Monster Meat.
The total Daily Check-in also gave him almost over a million gold coins.
This was probably the second biggest gain. Although it didn't increase his strength, it allowed him to vigorously develop his city.
Hiring professional builders, buying materials for houses and factories, buying raw materials for factory uses, the cost of each piece of equipment, and spell.
All of them came from his pocket.
If his family hadn't left so much wealth, he would've either slowed down the development or simply abandoned the city.
Thankfully, he received those daily check-ins, which supported his goal.
Now, within a year, his City had started to gain recognition from other countries.
He had already received monthly and daily check-ins. So, he was just waiting for his Yearly Check-in.